English Channel Rowing Challenge , in memory of Binny Hartin and Gerard Irwin. In aid of Limavady Rugby Club. Sunday 13th September 2020 @ 1pm in Limavady Rugby Club.

Hi, my name is Colly Hartin. I am a 36-year-old husband, father, son & brother from Limavady, Co Derry. Like a lot of people, the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lock down has brought out a side of me I never knew I had. It turns out I had the potential of becoming an endurance athlete!

The beginning of my lock down was remarkably similar to a lot of peoples – Enjoying the lovely weather we had, redecorating the house and spending time with my wife & son. It also meant eating more than usual!

After a couple of weeks, I contacted Ricky Morrison, the owner of Ultimate Strength gym and asked him if I could borrow some equipment to keep me occupied while the gym was closed. Being the gent he is, he obliged and away I went with a couple of kettle bells, a couple of medicine balls, a resistance band and his rowing machine.

The first goal I set myself was to row 10km in less than 45 mins. It didn’t happen! My first attempt yielded a time of 45:34. The second attempt was successful with a time of 44:29. With this I was hooked. You hear of people catching the running or cycling bug. I had well and truly caught the rowing bug. My next goal was to row for an hour and record a furthest distance possible. A distance of 13328m was the result. From then on it was a matter of adding on either improvement in distance for the same time spent or adding more time with a further distance. The next major result was a distance of 18km in 1:20:49.

It was at this point I discovered the English Channel Rowing Challenge – row 37km in one sitting! At the time it wasn’t something I thought I would ever be able to take on. As time went on and the distances increased, I thought why not!

Initially I had planned on doing a fundraiser solely for the Limavady Rugby Club who I have supported for over 10 years. My involvement in the club started when I sponsored the newly founded football team in 2009. I then helped out as a coach in the football team in 2015. I became manager of the football team in 2016 and at the same time joined the club committee.

On 15th September 2017 my father, Binny, passed away at the age of 63. Then in July 2018, Gerard Irwin, father of club captain Peter Irwin died after a short battle with cancer.

Then I had an idea - rather than doing the 37km row on my own I could incorporate more rowing machines and have the Hartin family and Irwin family doing a relay up to the 37km mark.

Although our dads had no direct link to the club all of their sons do. My brothers Fergal, Nathan and Jamie have all played for the club as have Peter's brothers Matthew and Andrew.

Limavady Rugby Club have suffered significantly as a result of Covid-19. The rugby club's main source of income is through the bar, especially on match days and with all sport being cancelled and the bars ordered to close this put a stop to almost all income.

So the date is set - Sunday 13th September @ 1pm in Limavady Rugby Club. We hope to see as many of you there to support as possible.